Abstract：
White matter hyperintensity (WMH) shape is associated with long-term dementia risk in community-dwelling older adults, however, the underlying structural correlates of this association are unknown. We therefore aimed to investigate the association between baseline WMH shape and cerebrovascular disease progression over time in community-dwelling older adults. The association of WMH shape and cerebrovascular disease markers was investigated using linear and logistic regression models in the Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility-Reykjavik (AGES) study (n = 2297; average time to follow-up: 5.2 years). A more irregular shape of periventricular/confluent WMH at baseline was associated with a larger increase in WMH volume, and with occurrence of new subcortical infarcts, new microbleeds, new enlarged perivascular spaces, and new cerebellar infarcts at the 5.2-year follow-up (all p < 0.05). Furthermore, less elongated and more irregularly shaped deep WMHs were associated with a larger increase in WMH volume, and new cortical infarcts at follow-up (p < 0.05). A less elongated shape of deep WMH was associated with new microbleeds at follow-up (p < 0.05). Our findings show that WMH shape may be indicative of the type of cerebrovascular disease marker progression. This underlines the significance of WMH shape to aid in the assessment of cerebrovascular disease progression.
摘要：
白质高强度（WMH）形状与社区居住老年人的长期痴呆风险有关，然而,这种关联的潜在结构相关性未知.因此，我们旨在调查社区居住的老年人的基线WMH形状与脑血管疾病随时间进展之间的关系。WMH形态与脑血管病标志物的关联研究采用线性和逻辑回归模型,基因/环境易感性-雷克雅未克（AGES）研究（n=2297；平均随访时间：5.2年）。基线时更不规则的脑室周围/汇合的WMH形状与WMH体积的更大增加相关。随着新的皮质下梗死的发生，新的微出血，新的血管周围空间扩大，5.2年随访时出现新的小脑梗塞（均p<0.05）。此外，较小的细长和不规则形状的深WMHs与WMH体积的较大增加有关，随访时新的皮质梗死（p<0.05）。深度WMH的较小细长形状与随访时的新微出血相关(p<0.05)。我们的发现表明，WMH形状可能指示脑血管疾病标志物进展的类型。这强调了WMH形状有助于评估脑血管疾病进展的重要性。
